I believe in God... AND Jesus. Does that make me a fundamentalist? Find out as I continue my journey to make sense of faith, community, spirituality, practicality and the meaning of life. Plus - don't forget fundamentalist starts with FUN.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Roger Mitchell on London Bombings

This from my email inbox, from Storm-Harvest's email list. Interesting perspective, and a good mix of the practical and spiritual:

Subject: Roger Mitchell on London bombings

Roger Mitchell has sent out the following. Roger has been involved with theapostolic/prophetic & strategic prayer for many years. He recognises thatmany in the Church will not completely agree with him on this.

A view in response to the London bombings:

Bombing, killing and wounding people is bad - we all agree. But we mustrecognise the context in which this has taken place. When the attack on thetwin towers took place some of us did our level best to make the followingposition known. The subsequent events and now the bombings in London haveunderlined it even more.

1. The Western world is vulnerable to terrorist attacks because of thingswrong in its own foundations. These things create a fault line, or expose asoft underbelly. These foundational faults are:

Ongoing economic injustice. Manifested in gross selfishness andprotectionism, aimed at maintaining the economic power base and affluence ofthe West. This is expressed in terms of our current trade and economic aid,including the terms of the current debt clearances (eg: the conditions ofthe IMF and World Bank imposed on African nations even by the G8 summitleaders).

The abuse of Military power. Manifested in the dominance of the West, basedon our superior nuclear weapons and our manipulation of the arms trade. Thisis expressed in our double standards of justifying war in Iraq (who weoriginally armed) on the grounds of their supposedly having weapons of massdestruction like we do and of pressurising Iran and North Korea over thesame thing.

A Christendom-based church. Manifested in those church denominations,networks, congregations and ministries which align more or less uncriticallywith the foundational political, economic and military power bases ofsociety outlined in (1) and (2) above. This is frequently expressed in theway that church government, theology, prayer and the prophetic is framed,interpreted and enacted.

These foundational sins are clearly denounced by the prophet Amos in Israeland in the other nations around them (See Amos Chs1-2). Amos makes it clearthat societies where these foundational sins exist will be judged (i.e.given the consequences of what they are choosing) if there is no repentance.

2. Terrorist attacks such as those on the twin towers, the Madrid trains andthe London transport system are the consequence of exposing ourselves to thejealousy, desperation and sin of those who are the victims of our injusticeand abuse of power. Where misguided, false or violent political, racial orreligious motives and movements already exist to exacerbate such reactionsto our Western nations' sin, the mix provides the current extremelydangerous and destructive context for terrorism.

3. Western societies are the home of, and in many ways the product of,Christendom. It is imperative that the church repents for its uncriticalalignment with these foundational sins of the western nations, brings abiblical response to terrorism, and demonstrates the way of peace.

Biblically, the answer to this terrorism is to come in the opposite spirit.That means repentance for our foundational sins and love and forgivenesstowards our enemies. This must be expressed in empathy towards them aspeople despite the evil they perpetrate. It needs the willingness torecognise the context in which they are operating described above, radicaland urgent efforts to change the injustices and abuses involved and the useof dialogue and blessing not violence and cursing in our attitudes towardsthem.

4. Since the attack on the twin towers, the Western World, and in particularthe political and military leadership given by the USA and the UK, hasexponentially increased our vulnerability to terrorism. Instead of coming inthe opposite spirit, we have declared war on terror and invaded Afghanistanand Iraq. We have bombed, killed and wounded many civilians in the process,adding the desire for personal vengeance to the already existing jealousy,desperation and sin. It is crucial that the body of Christ humbly stands inthe gap for these sins of the Western nations, especially the USA and the UKand agitates effectively for changed policies and behaviour in our nations.

5. Therefore, in summary, we want to make the following statements:

The random, indiscriminate and deliberate killing & maiming of the victimsof the London Transport bombings of 7th July 2005 is to be utterly deplored.

The Western nations must turn from their idolatrous worship of guaranteedsecurity, continuous economic growth and military strength, which takesplace against the sinful background of exacerbated global poverty, unjusttrade and an unrighteous arms trade.

The church in the West must repent as a matter of urgency from itsChristendom mindset, its vindication of selfish political actions and itsmanifestation of a crusading rather than Christ-like response to terrorism.

We are trusting God for maximum grace as we pray for Europe at this time.